Life Advocacy Briefing

Thank You, Sen. Tuberville

SEN. TOMMY TUBERVILLE CONTINUES, at this writing, to stand tall on blocking confirmations of any promotions within the US military so long as the Biden Regime continues to aid servicemembers in procuring abortions. He does so despite being verbally attacked on the Senate floor by Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) and even insulted by the President himself in response to a CNN reporter’s question during his overseas trip.

“I’d be willing to talk to him [Sen. Tuberville] if I thought there was any possibility he would change his ridiculous position in this,” said Pres. Biden while in Lithuania. “He’s jeopardizing US security with what he’s doing. I expect the Republican Party to stand up, stand up and do something about it. … The idea that we have all these promotions that are in abeyance right now, and we don’t know what’s going to happen. The idea that we’re injecting into fundamental foreign policy decisions, what in fact is a social policy debate on social issues is bizarre. I don’t ever recall that happening, ever. … I just think that, I mean, I’m confident that the mainstream Republican Party no longer, does not support what he’s doing. We’ve got to stand up and be counted; that’s how it ends.”

It ends, Mr. President, with your dropping your determined, brutal pogrom against the progeny of our servicemembers at taxpayer expense. We don’t recall the military ever before being hijacked – at our expense – by a radical President and his regime. Not even under Pres. Barack Obama. Not even under Hillary Clinton’s husband.

To our readers: We encourage you to call Sen. Tuberville now and thank him for continuing to stand against the corruption of our military by the abortion cartel and its fellow travelers in the Biden Regime. His telephone number in Washington is 202/224-4124. He needs to hear from Americans even beyond his home state.

Targeting Africa for Abortion with Your Tax $

U.S. REP. CHRIS SMITH (R-NJ) IS ‘SOUNDING THE ALARM,’ reports Don Hart for The Washington Stand, “on the Biden Administration ‘reimagining’ the PEPFAR AIDS relief program for Africa to include funding for abortion.

“The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was launched by Pres. George W. Bush in 2003,” notes Mr. Hart, “with the purpose of providing funding for lifesaving medical care for African nations to fight the AIDS epidemic. The program is credited with saving over 25 million lives as a result of the US government’s $100 billion investment over the last 20 years.” 

But now that America’s abortion President is in charge, “lawmakers are warning,” writes Mr. Hart, “that PEPFAR is undergoing a fundamental overhaul to include funding for abortion and other highly controversial practices, which the program was never … intended to fund.”

Rep. Smith, longtime chairman of the House Pro-Life Caucus, raised the alarm on a recent edition of Family Research Council’s “Washington Watch,” where he warned, reports Mr. Hart, “‘Not only are they … planning on doing it, they’re already doing it. … Pres. Biden has hijacked [Pres. Bush’s] Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. … There was a consensus – Right, Left, middle – that providing life-saving medicines and interventions to prevent AIDS in the first place is a very noble goal, and it needs to be done. That said,’” Rep. Smith continued, “‘what Biden has done – he has now said that abortion promotion and performance is integrated with all of our HIV/AIDS work overseas. So, we’re targeting African countries primarily,’” he said. “‘But there are some others who get our foreign aid. We’re talking $6 billion a year, $30 billion over five years.’”

Rep. Smith has circulated a letter to Congressional colleagues, noting, reports Mr. Hart, “that two groups, Population Services International (PSI) and Village Reach, ‘have received $96.5 million and $10.1 million, respectively, over the last few years from PEPFAR under Biden, and both groups have a track record of pushing abortion.’

“[Rep.] Smith wrote that ‘PSI proudly proclaims it provides abortion and lobbies to eliminate pro-life laws. PSI provides comprehensive abortion and post-abortion care services in nearly 20 countries throughout the world.’ He also alleged,” reports Mr. Hart, “that Village Reach used PEPFAR funds ‘to promote abortion in Malawi and lobby for changes in pro-life laws’ and also ‘helped Malawi establish a government-funded hotline (that included providing information and referrals for “sexual and reproductive health,” i.e. abortion).’ …

“In addition to abortion,” reports Mr. Hart, “the Biden Administration also appears to be using PEPFAR funds to push gender identity and sexual ideologies, mirroring the strategy of its foreign policy.”

Said Travis Weber, vice president for Policy & Government Affairs at Family Research Council, quoted by Mr. Hart, “‘The Biden Administration seems downright obsessed with pushing abortion and gender ideology on the world. … At a time when we are confronting multiple challenges to US interests worldwide, including a rising China, the Administration is instead spending US resources on an ideological crusade that is insulting and alienating potential partners and allies. This Administration’s push for abortion and gender ideology globally is the very definition of shooting yourself in the foot.’”

For his part, Rep. Smith is vowing to fight the Biden Regime in the appropriations process. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has pledged to pursue regular consideration of individual appropriations bills in this session of Congress, departing from the reckless practice of lumping all spending into a continuing appropriations resolution which carries over the entire budget – with addition but with no real debate or consideration – from one fiscal year to the next.

PEPFAR spending is expected to be considered in the Foreign Operations Appropriation bill, to which language can be attached which limits the use of the funds.  Rep. Smith does not serve on the Appropriations Committee but is a long-standing member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Readers are encouraged to contact their own US Representative to urge that funding for abortion and gender ideology be excluded from PEPFAR’s appropriation. [Capitol switchboard: 202/224-3121]

“‘What the Biden Administration is doing [is] outrageous,’” Rep. Smith said, reported by Mr. Hart. “‘We’re not going to allow [it]. I’m going to fight it very hard.’”

Iowa Protects Babies with a Heartbeat

IOWA GOV. KIM REYNOLDS (R) WAS EXPECTED JULY 14 (after our deadline) to sign a “heartbeat” law banning abortions on babies whose heartbeats can be detected, usually at around six weeks’ gestation.

Late last Tuesday, reports Jean Mondoro for LifeSiteNews, the Senate voted 32 to 17 to advance the bill to the governor. It had already passed the House during a special session called by the governor, notes Ms. Mondoro, “to provide further protections for the unborn.”

Unfortunately, the bill exempts protections for babies conceived in the commission of a reported sex crime, as well, notes Ms. Mondoro, as when “a doctor declares that developmental abnormality makes the baby ‘incompatible with life’ or an abortion is deemed ‘necessary’ to save the mother from death or serious injury. The medical emergency caveat does not include mental health issues or conditions.”

Indiana Wins One

INDIANA’s SUPREME COURT HAS UPHELD a state law banning, reports Calvin Freiburger for LifeSiteNews, “all abortions except those sought due to rape or incest during the first 10 weeks or ‘substantial and irreversible physical impairment’ of the mother’s health and permits abortions if a preborn child ‘suffers from an irremediable medical condition that is incompatible with sustained life outside the womb’ up to 20 weeks.”

Even with such loopholes, the abortion industry sued, of course, even after the Supreme Court handed down its Dobbs decision a year ago “expressly allowing states to set their own abortion laws,” notes Mr. Freiburger. And a county judge enjoined the law temporarily last September, “claiming to see a ‘reasonable likelihood that this significant restriction of personal autonomy offends the liberty guarantees of the Indiana Constitution.’ But,” notes Mr. Freiburger, “the state’s highest court ruled otherwise.”

The New World – Or Is It?

June 24, 2023, Commentary by Mary Szoch, director of Family Research Council’s Center for Human Dignity

             One year ago today, I was in my living room playing with my 11-month-old son when my phone notified me of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Org. As I read the Court’s ruling, I danced for joy. My baby giggled.

             Since that wonderful day, 14 states have been able to enforce laws protecting life from conception. Four more have passed legislation significantly advancing protections for the unborn that are currently blocked pending litigation.

             With state pro-life laws saving as many as 24,000 unborn children and their mothers from the evils of abortion since Dobbs, the commitment of the pro-life movement to creating a country where every child is treated with the dignity he or she deserves has only gotten stronger.

             Despite vandalism, FBI raids, terroristic threats, brutal beatings and ostracization, the pro-life movement – not people who are paid to work to defend life but the grassroots people like my parents, Dick Schaefer, Mark Crosby, Janet During, Kristi Brown and Andrea Lantzy – people who have prayed outside abortion clinics for years, supported or run pregnancy resource centers, marched in the freezing cold or spoken out about their own regret of having an abortion – have only worked harder to defend the unborn.

             Unfortunately, though, as the pro-life movement has risen to meet the challenge of stopping the abortion industry, many Republicans, including Congressional members and Presidential candidates, have cowered away [from] debating whether protecting life is a “winning” or “losing” issue.

             In the six months following Dobbs, the number of Americans who consider themselves “pro-choice” increased from 57% to 61%. The 2022 election was expected to be a red wave but turned into more of a slow drip, with those defending life losing on ballot measures in Montana, Kentucky, Michigan, Kansas, Vermont and California. Many concluded the Republican stance on protecting life in the womb was to blame.*

             Sadly, in 20 states, unborn children are still not protected until the moment of birth. (It is noteworthy that despite the pro-abortion industry touting a number of state legislative “victories” in these primarily blue states, the threat to unborn lives in these states remains the same as it was under the tyranny of Roe.)

             In the 2022 election cycle, despite an insistence that Life was a paramount issue, Democrats outspent Republicans 45 to 1 on advertising surrounding the killing of the unborn. After the election, with a Republican majority in the House, the only two pro-life bills passed were the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act and a resolution condemning violence against pro-life groups, centers and churches.

             And while it is wonderful that these bills were two pro-life “wins,” neither went anywhere in the Senate, and a Congressman hardly need be pro-life to condemn violent attacks or say that a baby who is born deserves medical attention.

             As the 2024 elections draw near, politicians who are in the party whose platform proudly states that members “protect life and offer real solutions for women” and support a “human life constitutional amendment” must live up to this to be worthy of being called “pro-life.”

             Republican Presidential and Congressional candidates cannot be allowed to look for a “middle ground” or a “consensus” on protecting life, when the only “consensus” Democrats want is to be on par with North Korea taking innocent unborn lives on demand through birth.

             Similarly, candidates cannot both claim to be “100% pro-life” and believe that the federal government has no role in protecting the unborn. Voiceless unborn children in California and New York cannot be left to speak for themselves as Congressional members and candidates argue that protecting unborn children is a “state issue.”

             Since 1973, Presidents and Members of Congress have worked to defend life. Successes, like protecting unborn children from partial-birth abortion, shielding taxpayers’ money from funding abortion, and defunding abortion businesses have been few and far between. But just as Democrats demand full allegiance to their culture of death – including a willingness to turn a blind eye to infanticide – Republicans must demand a total commitment to building a culture of life.

             Certainly, what candidates prioritize on Life may look different. Some may want to focus on different starting points, like protecting life at various gestational stages; others may want to prioritize defunding abortion businesses; others [seeking to clarify] what is encompassed in existing federal protections for the unborn and making sure those protections are enforced. But no candidate can simply pass on protecting the unborn.

             Though there will undoubt[edly] be momentary setbacks along the way, the only way to shift the political window on Life is for all members of the pro-life movement to stand firmly in defense of the truth. And so, every candidate must be committed to working toward the goal of an America where people no longer vote on who has the right to life and who does not.

             On this Dobbs anniversary, let’s hold our politicians responsible for fighting for the most vulnerable with the same courage as those members of the pro-life movement who spend their Saturday mornings praying in front of Planned Parenthoods and their Wednesday nights volunteering at pregnancy resource centers. The fight to defend Life is far from over, but we must persevere until the day when every mother has the chance to experience the joy of hearing her baby giggle.

*Life Advocacy Briefing editor’s note: Dobbs presents a sea change in abortion politics, not for the first time. In 1989, the Supreme Court handed down the Webster decision, which chipped away at Roe with a ruling upholding a relatively minor state statute out of Missouri. Just as in the run-up to the Dobbs ruling which did overturn Roe, the abortion lobby in 1989 built a political machine in fear of the full overturn of its abominable pet high-court precedent. We are seeing history repeat itself in the attention being turned to state election contests as a result. The pro-life movement has developed an extensive network of care agencies in anticipation of the some-day overturning of Roe, but the movement and its wannabe supporters in the political world have not, in our opinion, thought through the change in messaging required for victories in front-line political contests where abortion is a critical factor. Because the abortion cartel has tied itself so closely to the Democratic Party (and vice versa), financial backing and professional messaging can be expected from the abortion lobby for virtually every Democratic candidate (with the exception of US Rep. Henry Cuellar, the only one left). It behooves pro-life candidates – both committed and nominal – to expect the abortion issue to be raised and to prepare a strategic approach. Life Advocacy Resource Project aims to assist in that development. The issue must be properly managed; it cannot “safely” be ducked.

Smith on Dobbs

June 24, 2023, statement by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), chairman, US House Pro-Life Caucus

              Dobbs is the game changer – and God willing, the beginning of the end of the culture of death. It is an engraved invitation to policy makers at every level including Congress and the President to protect unborn children from the violence of abortion.

              The sacred burden to double down on our vital life-saving work has never been clearer.

              As we all know far too well, the purveyors of death have aggressively fostered a culture of denial, disrespect and bias against babies and have employed an endless array of deceitful tactics designed to trivialize and mask an ugly reality.

              There is nothing humane or benign about abortion.  Abortion is not healthcare, unless one construes the precious life of an unborn child to [be] analogous to a tumor to be excised or a disease to be vanquished.

              Many states like my state of New Jersey have enacted extremist laws that legally sanction the killing [of] a baby for any reason whatsoever right up to the moment of birth.

              Before Republicans took control, the House twice passed radical legislation to permit abortion-on demand until birth while simultaneously eviscerating every pro-life policy achieved over the past 50 years. President Biden – the Abortion President – has made it absolutely clear that he is eager to sign it into law.  We can’t let that happen.

              On the positive side, 14 states post-Dobbs ban abortion while others have enacted laws to prohibit abortions at six weeks, 12 weeks, 15 weeks, 18 weeks and 20 weeks. Another eight states have new protections that have been blocked by lower courts, and we hope they will be sustained.

               Finally, you have – and continue to – educate a nation, always believing that truth well-presented shatters pro-abortion myth and hyperbole. Because you care so much – and sacrifice so much – millions of children and their mothers have been spared the agony of abortion.

              Because you care so much – and sacrifice so much – millions of women who have had abortions have discovered the peace that surpasses all understanding and experienced profound reconciliation through faith in our amazing God.